hellziggy

A few more pictures I've uploaded:

The carousel at the Mall of America:


Lego dinos! (But it's a titch fuzzy from camera movement...)


Petting zoo at the mall:


and the carousel again:


Photo album for these and others is HERE

Well, the official James Marsters site: http://www.jamesmarsters.com/home.html has been updated with links to two fans sites of photos. It was supposed to be three, but Steve apparently couldn't get the link to mine to work. I had emailed him back when he first said it didn't work and pointed out that it did make a difference if letters were capitalised. Then, a couple hours later I got an email from him saying that he just couldn't get it to work.
So now I'm kicking myself because I don't know if it didn't work the second time because I was actually logged into the gallery to work on the photos of Julie's house that I'd just uploaded.
Who knows. Maybe he'll figure it out and add mine, but I don't think so.
I should know better than to get my hopes up like that.

http://www.dreamflyte.com/gallery/marsters

Well, here's the link, in a completely non-official jamesmarsters.com way.

*sigh*

Well I managed to waste an entire day in front of the tv with my computer!
My lap didn't get too hot from the computer though because on Friday my ChillPaks arrived, and they make a HUGE difference in the running temp of the computer! Mine look a little different from the ones on the website, because I am apparently one of the first people to get the New & Improved ChillPak Version 2.0. Of course, I never saw Version 1.0 in person so I don't know what the differences are, other than that mine is blue...

All of my pics from the James Marsters Q & A and the James Marsters concert are up in the gallery. Yup, all 176 of them.
I've also got Moose's convention photos up, just not mine. Yeah, I got my priorities: 1. Marsters 2. Moose 3. Me

Yesterday, I was out of work early because it was my flex week. I also had my appointment with the shrink to go over my ADD test results. Apparently I am really smart and only slightly crazy! LOL! He didn't give me the actual number from the IQ test, but I know about where it's at. I also scored in the high 90s percentiles on some knowledge based tests. I found that I still have the most issues with auditory distractions, but one really interesting thing about that was the test results comparing me with & without the Ritalin in my system. The first one, without, I was only at about 50% in the auditory column, The second time when I took it I was almost up at 100% when I had Ritalin. He could also tell that I had had caffeine that day too. :)
Yes, I got the quit the caffeine lecture. I expected it. I knew I needed to eventually anyway. But I like my Diet Mountain Dew! He's also pretty sure I suffer from SAD and will be recommending light therapy. Taking Omega-3 is also recommended. One really interesting fact was that when he mentioned that I should start exercising, and I said that in the last month I had just started with the DDR he said it is absolutely wonderful for ADD people because of the way it works your brain.
It'll be interesting to get his written report so I can see all the results laid out.

Oy, I'm tired. It's hard work doing nothing!

I'm on my lunch now, so no real time to try to update.
I'm home from Toronto. I had another insane stretch of no sleep. Woke up at 8:00am (7:00am MN time) in Toronto on Sunday. Did the CN Tower & a last wander through the convention, freed the car from the parking garage & hit the road. For some reason the drive back took substantially longer and we can't figure out why because the only real stop was about 15 minutes at the border.

Speaking of the border...
THE CUSTOMS GUY DIDN'T LOOK AT OUR ID!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not, "oh, that was kind of a quick glance" or anything like that. He never even physically touched our driver's licenses and birth certificates!!! Y'all are lucky I'm not a terrorist!

So anyway the drive back took so long that I got to my house at 6:00am, took a 5 minute shower, hugged Hellbob, grabbed my stuff and ran out the door to work, with lucky13charm still in tow because she lives just south of work. I stopped at Byerly's to grab paper plates & plastic utinsels for the work potluck (I was smart enough to grab the non-food option when the signup went around!) and headed to work. We figured I would be late to work if I took lucky13charm home, so she dropped me off at work & took my car for the day. Then she came back at 4:30 so I could have it back. Yup, I worked my 9 hr shift (plus .5 hr for lunch) with exactly ZERO hours of sleep!! Went to bed about 10 or so after falling asleep while typing.

I have school tonight! Yay! Just one class one night a week, but it's advanced Photoshop!!

I haven't even caught up on my reading, let alone my Con report. Soon. Really. But until then, here is another picture from the weekend...

It's been almost a week since I had any random ramblings... It's a comfort thing. My computer is dead so I have to use HellBob's. Even though it is the same room, all of four feet from where I usually am, and it's the same chair, cuz his is the wrong height, it just doesn't feel right!
Maybe the problem is the shiny foil "mud-flap girl" sticker on his case. You know the one, silouhette of some chick with Barbie like proportions leaning back, one leg bent...
It's just not the same as my happy little computer with it's Los Angeles Coroner's Office sticker!
I think a big part of the problem may be my complete lack of bookmarks! I had finally just organized all of mine. *sigh*
What a long week this was! I had class on Tues & Thurs. The teacher is driving me nuts because his voice just reminds me of someone. He talks & I know that voice. I just can't remember who!!!! Argh!
On Wed, I worked a shift at Waldenbooks. It was kinda neat because with all the kiosks up there are all these part-time new people who don't know what they are doing yet. So since Christine & Kelly were busy putting up the last kiosk (it's a Lego one!) they kept coming to me with their questions & to ask what they should work on. Usually, I work with one of hte management 'cuz someone with a key to the store has to be there. It was just weird being the one who knew stuff.
Friday, we went to check out one of the films at the Central Standard film festival. It was a film called Hell House. It was both funny and scary in a "I can't believe these people are real" kind of way. It is a doc about a haunted house that a church put on with "real" horrors. A girl has an abortion, bleeds to death & goes to hell. A man is gay, dies of AIDS & goes to hell. A girl goes to a rave, is drugged & raped, commits suicide & goes to hell. Are you sensing a theme yet?
Tonight I left HB at home & went off to take in another movie. Last Seen. I didn't really care for it. It was shot on a small digital camera & it really showed sometimes. It was just distracting to be watching a movie in a theater & have the diagonal lines be jagged because of the pixelation. Also, the script was written as it was being filmed. I just couldn't get into it.
But, I did find out that they have upgraded all the five day passes to VIP, so I can go to the final movie & the closing ceremony dinner. Free dinner at Fuji-ya, which was voted the best Japanese & best sushi in the Cities. When I told chebutykin about the free dinner she called me a bitch. hee hee.
Earlier in the day, Cheb & I headed down to Bloomington for a baby shower. Jen, the wife of our friend Gecko is due November 1st. Halloween baby! Her baby room is Seuss & since no one makes Seuss wallpaper or decorations or anything they had to paint it themselves projecting pictures on the wall, tracing & painting. It turned out awesome! And I found the cutest little eyeore outfit to give her! :)
I thought weekends were for relaxing! I haven't gotten to do much of that! And now I will probably try to check out one of the short film showings tomorrow before heading to Como Park. Then I am gonna try to get to the park at least an hour before my class, with my camera. ZOOOOOO!!! :) Then I've got my Wicca class for about 2 hours or so. Then home to get HB so we can head to the last movie & go get our free dinner. :)
I'm tired just thinking about it. Time to go veg out infront of the tv for a while & maybe make HB order us some pizza.

3 day weekends are glorious things!
We did the paint ball thing on Sat.
Then yesterday I went to the zoo with chebutykin. Overall a good day. I shot 3 b&w rolls & one color (mostly in the butterfly garden. Butterflies do much better in color...) Cheb & I are both in love with the meercats. For some reason I thought they were just a temporary on loan type exhibit when we saw them last year so I was very pleasantly surprised to see them there. We made it through the whole zoo this year, although we didn't get to see the wolverines on the Minnesota trail cuz their exhibit was being renovated. Most of the animals were doing a good job of posing where we could see them which combined with my telephoto led to some pretty darn good shots.
I had planned to spend today locked in the darkroom to print up this stuff, but HellBob invited our friends Jeanine & Julie over to grill dinner. It was a pretty good tradeoff for very little darkroom time. And it forced us to clean our very disorganized messy house. Now I just have to dismantle & clean my computer keyboard. Some of the right hand keys are sticking & I suspect that it might have something to do with the cider I kinda sorta splashed on it.... Woodchuck's new Raspberry Apple Cider is very yummy stuff!
Now I have to go do my homework before I go to bed...

You'd think that with the sheer volume of photo negs I have I could find a decent picture of me to print up!! I need to get HellBob to use the camera more because I like hiding behind the lens too much. Now, when I need one, I can't find a picture of myself that is both a) just me and b) not hideous. Finding a good one of HellBob is easy, cuz I'm always taking his picture. I may just have to have HellBob shoot some pictures of me. At least the darkroom is finally done so I can just develop & print them myself. I really need to go spend a couple hours just working in there. But it's so hard when it is sooooo gorgeous out! I think I've got just about every weekend booked until the end of September!
Puppies!!! My friend Tom is giving his daughter a puppy for her birthday, now that him & his wife finally have a house. I get to keep it at my house for a day or two! He is getting it from a woman I work with who lives way out in Cokato (it is so far west of the Twin Cities that it is long distance. I kept expecting to see a "Welcome to South Dakota" sign on the way out there!) and so I'll pick it up some time Labor Day weekend & keep it at my house til' that Tuesday morning when Tom picks it up. Puppy!!!!! I love puppies!!!!
It is soooooo cute the way that Tom is planning to surprise Anna. They have a bunch of rabbits hopping through their neighborhood so Tom told Anna that if she can catch one she can keep it. So she made a rabbit trap with a box held up with a stick, and a carrot. Of course she probably won't catch any rabbits with it, but on her birthday when Tom wakes her up & tells her she caught something she'll go out there and find a puppy in her rabbit trap. Then we have to hope she comes up with a good name & not something stupid like Pikachu...

I ran into my friend Scott today! He was hard at work pedaling Canon cameras & supplies at the National Camera Exchange tent sale!
I met Scott when he worked in the convienience store at one end of the strip mall I was working in. He was also really into photography, agreed that the Gear Daddies had been one of the greatest bands ever & it turned out he lived about 6 blocks from me. Not so strange until you factor in that we were both working on the opposite side of the city, 1/2 hour or so from home...
After we had both quit those jobs & I moved out of that neighborhood into my house I would just randomly run into him every few months. I went to the darkroom at MacPhail for a class I was taking. He was there. I went into National Camera for a photo reprint. He was there.
I couldn't just run into NatCam quick to pick something up, cuz if he was working it was a half hour conversation, minimum. Last time I saw him he was going to go to China for school. Then he wasn't working at the store anymore either. So until today I hadn't seen him for...God, must be a year at least. Turns out he's been working at the downtown location. But of course, our weird kismet had to have him at the tent sale today when i stopped in, cuz he only has 10 days left before he starts a new job.
And he's married now! He's been dating the same girl the whole time I've known him, and he told me all about the engagement one of the last times I saw him. Very romantic. He proposed to her at Midnight, New Years Eve in Central Park. Or maybe it was Christmas Eve. Either way, very cool & romantic.
It was just so cool to run into him again. Unfortunately the insanity of Tent Sale prohibited much chatting, but when we have our next BBQ I'll definately have to call & invite him.
Hellbob & I were also hitting garage sales this morning, but that was pretty much a bust. The only booty we found was an over-the-door flip down type ironing board. I hate ironing! Maybe I'll be more likely to do it if I don't have to set up the board... Yeah right!